Can every business create an online community?

This article was originally created by Marie Girardet (Left our team)

Two weeks ago, I attended the Online Communities Unconfenrence in Moutain View (while in SF). One of the session was about B2B communities.  This generated an interesting conversation and further brainstorm on my side I would like to share.

Creating a community became quite standard for consumers (BtoC), but not so much for BtoB.
Cisco created an online community called Cisco NetPro which aims at helping customers to use their products and so did Apple and Microsoft who also have communities.

If the subject is trendy for consumers and advanced marketing, can all company consider creating an online community?

Let’s take the example of B2B industrial companies. Imagine a pay per view security system manufacturer selling to cable operators, a watch piece manufacturer selling to time piece makers or engine manufacturer selling to automobile industry….

I can’t see any advantages for the business customers to share information considering their own competitors would benefit from it.
The way they use the product is part of their business strategy; which they ought not to share.

This brings to the question of communities purpose.

Why do you create a community for ?
What can people expect from a community ?

Why do you join a community